Night Watcher Points

Sunlight streamed into the Alchemy Workshop, falling on the workbench.

Lu Yuan stood in front of the platform, holding a handful of Silverleaf Grass in his hand, carefully removing the soil from the roots.

Beside her, however, Laurina was not concocting high-quality potions as usual.

She stared at the liquid in the crucible, her brow slightly furrowed, gently stirring it with a wooden spoon in her hand. Her movements were much slower than usual, as if she were waiting for something.

"What are you doing?" Lu Yuan asked.

"Perfect quality." Laurina said without looking up, "Sanity Potion, perfect quality."

Lu Yuan paused for a moment.

A perfect quality potion is far more effective than a good quality one, but it is also much more expensive.

But the Night Watcher only needs the standard quality for their orders.

"Prepare in advance?"

Laurina was silent for a few seconds, then said softly, "Mm."

Her voice was calm, but Lu Yuan detected a subtle urgency in it.

They all heard what the Night Watcher said last night.

The Tower of Erudition is putting pressure on them, but the Night Watcher's attitude... is hard to say.

Laurina knew better than anyone that her situation could change at any moment.

"Let's make as many as we can while we still can." Her gaze remained fixed on the cauldron. "Perfect quality Sanity Potion; they can save lives in a pinch."

"Furthermore, the Perfect Sanity Potion is the simplest to make. If the Sanity Potion can't be made, none of the others can be made either."

Lu Yuan remained silent.

He understood her thoughts.

Instead of sitting here daydreaming, it's better to do something practical and build up your confidence.

"Do you need my help?"

"Hmm." Laurina nodded slightly, her gaze still fixed on the crucible. "The Silverleaf Grass needs to be processed more carefully; impurities on the roots must be thoroughly cleaned. Perfect quality requires very high-quality raw materials."

Lu Yuan adjusted his technique as instructed, handling the materials in his hands with even greater care.

[Pharmacognosy: +0.2...]

The experience bar jumped slightly.

Time passed little by little.

Laurina's movements became increasingly cautious, with adjustments to the heat precise to every minute change.

But Lu Yuan noticed that her brows were furrowing more and more tightly.

The liquid's color was already very close to the standard of perfect quality, but it was still just a little bit off.

"Failed again." Laurina put down the wooden spoon, her tone filled with suppressed frustration.

What happened?

"It's a problem with the equipment." She pointed to the crucible. "The material of this crucible isn't pure enough; trace amounts of impurities seep in during heating. You can't usually tell, but it's of perfect quality..."

Lu Yuan looked at the crucible.

It looks no different from an ordinary crucible; its surface is even quite smooth.

"It's not just the crucible," Laurina continued. "The grinding surface of the Mortar isn't fine enough, so the particle size of the medicinal powder doesn't meet the requirements. The graduations on the measuring tools aren't precise enough either, resulting in slight deviations in the proportions."

She paused, then added, "And the still; if it's not sealed properly, some of the volatile components will be lost."

"This equipment is barely enough for good quality, but to achieve perfect quality..." she shook her head, "We can only rely on quantity..."

Lu Yuan remained silent for a moment, because what he lacked most right now was time.

"It's a pity I couldn't bring my own set with me, sigh..."

Laurina paused mid-sentence.

It was as if some unpleasant memory had been triggered.

Her expression froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal.

"Never mind, let's not talk about this."

Lu Yuan didn't press further, but instead asked, "Can you buy professional equipment?"

"It's not easy," Laurina shook her head. "Professional-grade alchemical equipment is expensive, and it's not something you can just buy with money. It needs to be custom-made by an alchemy workshop, and the process takes a long time. There aren't any readily available in Bronze City."

Lu Yuan fell into deep thought.

He remembered that he still had quite a few points on his badge, which he had accumulated in Grim Port and hadn't spent much of.

Perhaps... we can exchange for it with the Night Watcher?

Moreover, I can use this equipment myself.

"I'll go to the Night Watcher Base," Lu Yuan said, "To see if there's anything we can do."

Laurina looked up and glanced at him.

"Go ahead," she replied softly, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edge of the wooden spoon. "I'll continue making high-quality ones with this equipment; the Night Watcher's order can't be delayed."

The streets of Bronze City are very wide.

Sunlight shines on the stone-paved road, and pedestrians come and go.

Lu Yuan walked through several streets and arrived at the area where the Night Watcher Branch was located.

The atmosphere at the Night Watcher Base is currently very oppressive.

I can sense that something is happening lately.

The Night Watcher who came and went hurried along, their expressions solemn, and few stopped to talk.

Lu Yuan showed his badge and successfully entered the base.

He found the place in charge of redeeming points, a window in a side building, where a middle-aged man sat with an indifferent expression.

"Exchange it." Lu Yuan handed over the badge.

The middle-aged man took the badge and placed it on a metal tray.

The runes on the tray lit up, and numbers began to appear.

Then.

The middle-aged man stopped moving.

He stared at the numbers on the tray, his gaze shifting from indifference to astonishment, and then he abruptly stood up.

The chair made a screeching sound.

Nine hundred and thirty-seven?

His voice rose a notch, as if he had seen something incredible.

Lu Yuan himself was taken aback.

Keep in mind that completing a mission usually only earns around ten points.

I accumulated enough points in Grim to redeem just enough for a Revolver.

What task did I receive that many points for?

But that doesn't matter anymore; what matters is that I seem to have "money" now.

The middle-aged man sat down again, but his posture was completely different now.

He straightened his back and his expression became respectful and cautious.

"Excuse me, my apologies." He took a deep breath and double-checked the numbers on the tray. "I've worked here for thirteen years, and this is the first time I've seen more than five hundred points."

He raised his head, his eyes filled with obvious respect.

"It seems you have made outstanding contributions to the Empire."

Lu Yuan did not answer.

But the Night Watcher's points cannot be faked.

Every point has undergone rigorous review and represents a life-or-death struggle in a particular mission.

"What do you need to exchange?" The middle-aged man's attitude had completely changed, his tone now cautiously polite. "Tools, weapons, potions... or something special? I can give you a detailed introduction."

He paused, then added, "With your points, you can redeem many restricted items. And..."

He lowered his voice, with a hint of ingratiation. "We can deliver the exchanged items to your door free of charge, or assist you with their use."

"Let's take a look at the table of contents first." Lu Yuan didn't answer immediately.

"Of course." The middle-aged man immediately took out the thick booklet from under the counter and respectfully pushed it in front of Lu Yuan. "Please take a look."

Lu Yuan opened the booklet.

The first page contains tools.

He quickly found what he needed.

The options for alchemical equipment are clear:

Basic Alchemical Equipment Set: 10 points

Professional Alchemical Equipment Set: 25 points

Master Alchemical Equipment Set: 150 points

He glanced at the professional-grade description: it includes refining crucibles, fine grinding mortars, precision Mortar tools, sealed distillation apparatus, etc., suitable for the refining of pharmaceuticals of excellent to perfect quality.

That's fine.

Lu Yuan made a mental note of it and continued flipping through the pages.

Weapons.

Silver-Plated Shortsword: 15 points

Enchanted Revolver: 30 points

Mithril Dagger: 80 points

Runic Longbow: 120 points

Pharmaceuticals.

Sanity Potion (Excellent): 1 point/bottle

Healing Potion (Perfect): 3 points/bottle

Blessing Potion (Rare): 40 points/bottle

Materials.

Silverlight Grass: 1 point/bundle

Mithril Powder: 2 points/gram

Deep-Sea Whale Scale: 35 points/piece

Lu Yuan turned the pages one by one.

937 points is indeed a considerable sum.

But he wasn't in a hurry to make a decision because he didn't really lack anything for the time being.

Until you turn to the last few pages.

Special class.

This page has significantly fewer options, and the layout is much sparser. Each item is marked with a high score.

Emergency Evacuation Order: 300 points

Identity Reset Document: 500 points

Lu Yuan's gaze continued to sweep downwards.

Then it stopped.